Ministry of Railways
Measures to check malpractices in Reservation
Some instances of misuse of reservation system do come to notice during the checks conducted by Indian Railways, particularly during peak rush period/festival seasons. Out of total 2803 checks conducted by the Zonal Vigilance during the period of last three years and the current year upto November, 2019, 741 touts/agents were apprehended and 06 Railway staff were taken up under Disciplinary and Appeal Rules due to their connivance with the touts.
Indian Railways has taken various measures to keep a check on the activities of unscrupulous elements involved in malpractices in reservation, some of which are as under: -
- Instructions have been issued to ensure that tickets are not booked on abbreviated names and full name of the passenger and the surname wherever applicable are captured at the time of booking reserved tickets.
- Carrying of prescribed identity proof has been made compulsory for one of the passengers while undertaking journey in reserved class.
- With a view to curb the activities of unscrupulous elements involved in unauthorized ticketing activities, regular checks are conducted by Commercial, Vigilance and Security Departments  in mass contact areas such as Passenger Reservation System  centres, booking offices, platforms, trains etc. Such checks are intensified during peak rush periods like festivals, holidays etc.
- Stringent action is taken against the railway staff under Disciplinary and Appeal Rules, if found involved in malpractices.
- Checks conducted at reservation offices are supplemented by checks on the trains to detect the cases of transferred reserved tickets i.e. persons found travelling fraudulently against accommodation actually reserved in the name of another passenger.
- Surveillance at reservation offices has also been stepped up by installing Close Circuit Television at important PRS locations to keep watch on any possible misuse of reservation system. Booking pattern at reservation offices is also monitored for detecting unusual pattern and fraudulent working of unscrupulous elements.
- In case of online booking of tickets, checks have been applied on minimum time required to enter the passenger details and CAPTCHA and no ticket can be booked before 35 seconds. User IDs are checked on daily basis and those IDs found using malpractices like fast booking of tickets are deactivated.
- A limit of booking 6 Railway tickets by an individual user in a month has been fixed in case of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation  portal. This limit has been revised to 12 Railway tickets in a month for those individual users who have linked their IRCTC user ID with their respective Aadhaar number and ensured that at least one of the passengers in the passenger list is verifiable through Aadhaar.
- The authorized reserved ticketing agents of Indian Railways have been restricted from booking tickets during first fifteen minutes of opening of Advance Reservation Period  booking and Tatkal booking.
- General public are also educated through Public Address System and media, not to buy tickets from unscrupulous elements and consequences of buying tickets from these sources.
Taking measures to deter unscrupulous elements from misusing the reservation facility meant for genuine passengers is a continuous and an on-going process.
This information was given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.